Chapter 5 - "It was autocorrect, I swear!"
It was a sunny Friday afternoon when Alfred raced out of class, raring to go to Gilbert's dorm. That afternoon they had planned to play a few video games that the American himself didn't own. Alfred pulled his phone out of his back pocket and unlocked the screen.
From: Alfred [15:38]
Goin to gils
Try to hold in ur tears ;)
From: Arthur [15:39]
I won't cry, don't worry about that.
From: Alfred [15:39]
D:
Ur so mean
Arthur sighed as he received the text from his roommate. Instead of replying to Alfred, he went back to his messages and opened up another, this one between him and Gilbert.
From: Gilbert [3:29]
Its 3 I rhe mornin an im gona fight a bear jus u wtch
WIR SIND DAS ESSEN NEIN WIR SIND DIE JAGER
I los
The zo ppl r mad me :(
Okay, Arthur hadn't seen those. "Idiot. So that's why he was patched up." The blond grimaced and sent his message.
From: Arthur [15:40]
So you did manage to get Alfred to visit you?
From: Gilbert [15:41]
Uh yea duh
I told him I had garden warfare and he was fawnin over it i swear
From: Arthur [15:41]
So you've got everything prepared?
From: Gilbert [15:41]
Ye, so long as you can keep him long enough
From: Arthur [15:41]
Don't worry, I will.
From: Gilbert [15:41]
Alright
Arthur smirked, slipping his phone into his pocket. Game time. Arthur made his way to the bathroom after a quick stop on the kitchen. This was going to be great.
-D.K.E-
Knock, knock, knock!
Alfred shifted his weight from foot to foot as he heard footsteps running to the door, along with many other things actually. The sound of tables banging into walls, plastic bags being crushed underfoot, chairs falling over, Alfred swore he heard a cat screech.
Alfred's eyes were drawn to the door handle as it was opened slightly and the albino's face could be seen peeking out from behind.
"Hey, Al." Gilbert chirped.
"What are you doing?" Alfred asked.
"Just, ahh..." Gilbert straightened up, and opened the door a little more. "Just making sure that it's you. My roommate's out at the moment, not sure what they're doing, but..."
"Oh, okay." Gilbert cleared his throat and looked away. Alfred didn't have a clue what was going through his friend's mind, was he embarrassed? Did he not like his roommate?
"Anyway," Gilbert stepped back and finally opened the door enough for Alfred to see the inside of the Prussian's dorm. "Welcome to the lair."
As Alfred had guessed, it was a mess. The blond could see a sort of path through the trash and furniture where Gilbert had moved to answer the door. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, just... messy. "How does your roommate deal with this?"
"You're asking me." Gilbert rolled his eyes as he closed the door behind them. Gesturing to a small cabinet beside a large TV, he added, "All the games are in there, look through them if ya like. Uh, you want chips or anything?"
"You got cornchips?" Alfred asked as he stepped over... well, whatever that was, to get to the TV.
"Yup, hold on while I just..." Clothes and trash were moved out of the way as Gilbert made another path to his (considerably larger) kitchen while Alfred filed through stacks of video games.
"Jesus, you have a lot of games... oh hey, Kinect games."
"We are not going on a Kinect Adventure." Gilbert frowned as he reached for a packet on the top shelf.
While the American went through the games, Gilbert made his way toward his friend, balancing stacks of food in his arms and crook of his neck.
"Okay, so," the albino sat down, dumping the snacks around him. "Toni and Lovi are gonna play Garden Warfare with us later, you may hear Franny in the background."
"Franny's Francis, right?" Alfred asked.
"Yup," Gilbert leaned back against the sofa as the Xbox started up. "So, for future reference, Franny's really smart. Like, really smart. He tends to pick up on little things and sometimes that can be the last thing you want. Just saying, y'know."
Alfred took a controller as he thought over the advice Gilbert had given him. "Okay, I'll try to remember that."
"Alrighty, which game d'ya wanna play first?"
-D.K.E-
"Fucking shit-"
"I'm not even gonna ask you to stop swear-"
"Shit fu- the crap was that for?"
"-ing anymore, it seems pretty useless."
"I can hear you from across the yard, Lovino, what-"
"Aww... Lovi,"
"No."
"What?"
"No 'Lovi', nuh uh, nope, stop that and help me beat up this motherfucking zombie."
"Toni's a fucking sunflower, what the hell's he gonna do? Shoot rainbows and beams of light?"
"He can just smile and the same thing happens."
"Thanks!"
"Whoa, Al, you slipped right past my gaydar, I didn't k-"
"I'm stating the facts, okay?"
"Fucking shitty- what- he did it again!"
"No, Lovino, I can actually hear you from here." Alfred looked out of the dorm window and across the yard. Even with his headset off, he could still hear the Italian yelling profanities at the other players.
"Oh jeez, you weren't kidding, you can hear him!" Alfred could tell the Prussian was smiling, even though he didn't look at his face.
Before Alfred could slip his headset back on, his phone started to ring.
"Huh?" Gilbert turned away from the TV screen. "Who is it?"
Alfred got up and hopped over to his phone. "It's... Arthur?"
"H- what?" Gilbert cleared his throat. "Answer it, heck, if he's ringing you it's probably important."
"I guess..." Alfred mumbled before answering the phone. "Hello?"
"There's a leak in the bathroom."
"A... wait, what?"
"A leak. You can fix leaks, right?"
"Uhh... n-"
"Great, get your arse over here."
The blond snapped his jaw shut and set his phone down as his roommate hung up.
"So? What was it?" Gilbert asked.
"I don't know how to fix leaks..."
"There's a leak?"
"Appare-"
"Then you'd better go, just use duct tape or something, boy if only my brother were here." Gilbert pulled Alfred away from the table and pushed him to the door. "Luddy can fix anything except relationships, he's crap with stuff like that. Anyway, go!"
"I- okay, shit."
Gilbert opened the door and pushed Alfred out into the hall. "Run, damn it!"
"I know, I'll be back, okay?" Alfred shouted back to the albino as he sped down the hall.
-D.K.E-
Slamming open the door, Alfred leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath.
"Hello."
"Nn?" Alfred grumbled as he looked up. Arthur was in probably one of the strangest positions Alfred had seen to that day, bent in half with one of his legs swung over the back of the chair.
"The leak's in the bathroom." The Brit told his roommate.
"Why are you just reading?" Alfred asked airily, still out of breath from the run over.
"Oh, well... it's not that bad, it can wait a while."
The American sputtered and asked: "What? Why did yo- I thought it was an emergency! I was worried damn it!"
"I'd rather it was gone now then later. Come on, I'll show you where it is." Arthur got up from his odd position and walked over to the bathroom, Alfred following. The bathroom, though larger than the dam kitchen, was rather cramped and didn't easily fit two adults. Arthur stood to the side as the other blond kneeled in front of the cabinet under the basin.
"In here, right?" Alfred asked.
"Yeah."
As he opened the doors, Alfred wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Would it just be a small dribble, already lousily wrapped in duct tape? For some reason, the latter wouldn't have surprised him.
What he didn't expect was to see a vegetable sitting there. He could hear Arthur's faint laughter as he stared at the leek.
"You serious?" Arthur nodded and let a few giggles slip loose. It was when Alfred threw the leek at him that Arthur could no longer hide his laughter and doubled over in hysterics. Alfred couldn't help a small smile, the guy's laugh was contagious. "I'm going back to Gilberts, okay? Don't die on me."
Arthur barely managed to give his roommate a nod as Alfred left the dorm.
-D.K.E-
After a moment of thinking, Gilbert felt the iniquitous grin slide onto his face as he typed.
Phrase : I'm secretly obsessed with Kim Kardashian
Shortcut : Hey
-D.K.E-
"I'm bored." Alfred complained, watching his roommate from across the room.
"Hmm." Arthur hummed, laying on his back, legs resting vertically against the wall. He held a book just barely above his face.
"What should I doooo?" Alfred whined throwing his pillow at Arthur. It hit the other blondes head and fell into the floor.
"Text someone. I don't know Alfred." Arthur replied, not even glancing up.
Alfred smirked whipping out his cell phone. He opened up his messages to Arthur and typed a short message.
From: Alfred [16:58]
Hey
He watched as Arthur slightly jumped at the boring double-beep ringtone from his pocket, holding back snickers as the other stuck a hand underneath himself and wiggled the device out of his back pocket.
Alfred was expecting a fuming glare. Instead, Arthur let out a loud bark of laughter, complete with a little snort. "Gee Alfred. That's uh... alright then."
"What?"
"Your rather... interesting text. Shall I share a secret of mine?" Arthur teased. Alfred furrowed his brows and grabbed his phone from beside his leg.
From: Alfred [16:58]
I'm secretly obsessed with Kim Kardashian
"What the-"
"I never said that!" Alfred defended, throwing his hands in the air.
"Sure alright." Arthur drawled, returning back to his book.
"I didn't!"
"Fucking weirdest autocorrect ever." Alfred grumbled, sitting back into his bed with a scowl. Why the heck would it do that?
He opened up a new message to Gil. Maybe he knew what was up.
From: Alfred [16:59]
Dude
The reply was instantaneous.
From: Gilbert [16:59]
K?
If ur into that
Alfred frowned and scrolled up a little to his most recently sent message.
From: Alfred [16:59]
Evan Peters is BAE
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Alfred practically screeched, jumping up indignantly. Alfred walked over to Arthur and shoved his phone between the others face and book.
"Do you see that?"
"Really, Alfred?" Arthur asked lifting an eyebrow at him.
"I KNOW RIGHT!"
"I never pegged you as the Evan Peters type."
"No! I didn't send that!" Alfred whined and stalked back to his bed. What was going on?
Alfred opened a message to Gilbert again.
From: Alfred [17:00]
omg
help me!
From: Gilbert [17:01]
dude
is evrything ok
Alfred groaned. He was scared to look.
From: Alfred [17:00]
Kylie Jenner is hot af
I have the hugest crush on Betty White!
"I do NOT have a crush on freakin' Betty White!"
Alfred stopped when he heard the loud peals of laughter from his roommate. Arthur... Arthur.
"You didn't!" Alfred roared, closing in on the red faced Brit. He had laughed so hard he was barely breathing.
-D.K.E-
"Why are you laughing so much?"
Gilbert looked up at his two best friends for a minute before glancing back at his phone. Was it worth the punch in the face he'd get when Alfred realized he showed someone else? Yes. Yes it was.
He jumped up to show the texts from Alfred to both Francis and Antonio.
"Mon dieu!"
"Qué?"
All three of them burst into a fit of laughter. Gilbert screenshot the conversation with a smirk. Blackmail could always come in handy.
This may be my favourite chapter so far oml. I need to bring this up again later. Um, oh yeah, sorry it's a day late, hehe, technical difficulties. Fun fact, sunflowers in Garden Warfare were totally not inspired by Antonio. At all. Nope. Thanks for reading!
(psst. I had my birthday last Sunday. :^))
-Verbally Inescapable